Bull Angl 411 June 2019.qxp_Bull angl n° 401 August 2018 29/11/2019 18:28 Page 1 INSTITUT KURDDE PARIS E Information and liaison bulletin N° 413 AUGUST 2019 Bull Angl 411 June 2019.qxp_Bull angl n° 401 August 2018 29/11/2019 18:28 Page 2 The publication of this Bulletin enjoys a subsidy from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Culture This bulletin is issued in French and English Price per issue : France: 6 € — Abroad : 7,5 € Annual subscribtion (12 issues) France : 60 € — Elsewhere : 75 € Monthly review Directeur de la publication : Mohamad HASSAN ISBN 0761 1285 INSTITUT KURDE, 106, rue La Fayette - 75010 PARIS Tel. : 01-48 24 64 64 - Fax : 01-48 24 64 66 www.fikp.org E-mail: bulletin@fikp.org Bull Angl 411 June 2019.qxp_Bull angl n° 401 August 2018 29/11/2019 18:28 Page 1 Information and liaison bulletin Kurdish Institute of Paris Bulletin N° 413 August 2019 • ROJAVA: CAN THE SECURITY ZONE PREVENT A TURKISH INVASION? • TURKEY: ECONOMY IN CRISIS AND GROWING OPPOSITION TO ERDO AN; NEW ATTACKS ON FREEDOM OF INFORMATION • TURKEY: NUMEROUS PROTESTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY AFTER THE DISMISSAL OF NEW HDP MAYORS • IRAQ: CONTINUING DISAGREEMENTS OVER THE BUDGET; INTENSIFICATION OF JIHADIST ATTACKS • YEZIDI GENOCIDE: 3 AUGUST DESIGNATED AS A “DAY OF REMEMBRANCE” BY THE KURDISTAN PARLIAMENT • JIHADISTS IMPRISONED IN ROJAVA: WESTERN COUNTRIES FLEE THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES • IRAN: CHILLING THREATS FROM THE REGIME TO OPPONENTS, NUMEROUS CONVICTIONS OF KURDISH ACTIVISTS • IN MEMORIAM: DEATH OF ERAFETTIN GÜRBÜZ ROJAVA: CAN THE SECURITY ZONE PREVENT A TURKISH INVASION? n 1st August, the 13th ISIS coalition, had not been invited. Turkey has obtained a ceasefire conference on the Syrian The discussion focused on the Idleb from Damascus, on condition that conflict was held in Nur- region, the country's last rebel the rebels move back 20 km from Sultan (new name of stronghold, now totally overcrowd- the de-escalation line and withdraw O Astana, capital of ed, which has been under siege by their heavy and medium weapons. Kazakhstan), bringing together the Russian-backed Damascus Fragile truce: the regime has often Russia, Iran and Turkey, as well as army for months with intense bom- previously broken its commit- delegations from the Damascus bardments. Ankara, for its part, ments, and Turkey, which had regime and the Syrian opposition wishes to avoid a massive offen- promised to disarm the “moderate” supported by Turkey. The sive, which would precipitate mil- rebels, has not succeeded.... Autonomous Administration of lions of refugees on its territory, North-East Syria, dominated by the which already hosts more than The summit largely failed. The par- Kurds of the PYD (Party of three million: with the economic ticipants were unable to reach an Democratic Unity) and military crisis, their presence has become a agreement on how the Committee partner of the Washington-led anti- real domestic political problem. tasked with drafting the future Bull Angl 411 June 2019.qxp_Bull angl n° 401 August 2018 29/11/2019 18:28 Page 2 • 2 • Information and liaison bulletin n° 413 • August 2019 Syrian constitution should operate, weapons and ammunition to the as its setting-up had to be delayed. rebels. Tension quickly increased, The indiscriminate firing by the Nor did the negotiators succeed in with the Turkish Foreign Minister Turkish army, which has been taking bringing lasting peace to the situa- warning Syria on 20 July “not to place for months or even years in tion on the ground: as early as the play with fire”. But on the 23rd, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, forcing 3rd, the “moderate” rebels they once the rebels had withdrawn the evacuation of many villages, is hoped to separate from the jihadists from Khan Shaykhun, the Syrian also targeting Kurdistan in Syria. On refused to leave the region. army surrounded the main Turkish 13 August, RojInfo reported on the observation post in Morek, about situation in the small village of Tirbê The only “achievement” of Nur- ten kilometres to the south... Other Spî, very close to the border, not far Sultan is a final declaration which, Turkish posts were fired upon in from Derbasiya (Qamishlo canton). reaffirming the will of the three par- the following days. Turkey's posi- Some farmers have not been able to ticipating countries to defend tion in Syria was becoming increas- cultivate their fields for four years, Syria's “unity and territorial ingly delicate, and on the 27th, as Turkish soldiers sometimes even integrity”, explicitly condemns the the Syrian army continued its shooting at children... Others accuse Autonomous Administration: the advance northward, Mr. Erdoğan the Turkish army of burning their signatories “reject any attempt to made a “surprise” visit to Moscow fields. The co-president of the Tirbê create new realities on the ground to try to save the day... Spî Farmers' Council, Kamiran under the pretext of combating ter- Umer, estimates that 2,500 hectares rorism, including initiatives of ille- Meanwhile, in Afrin, where have ceased to be exploited because gitimate autonomous powers”, and Turkish occupation and depreda- of this situation.... “oppose separatist agendas aimed tion continue, Kurdish fighters at undermining Syria's sovereignty continue to regularly harass the In addition to the Turkish threat, and territorial integrity, and threat- Turkish military and their Jihadist according to a recent Pentagon ening the national security of auxiliaries. On the 6th, Kurdish report, the Syrian North-East is neighbouring countries”, a trans- sources reported that during the experiencing a more than worrying parent allusion to Turkey. The previous week, Turkish military resurgence of ISIS. On the 6th, Turkish President, obsessively and jihadists had set fire to thou- according to the Syrian opposed to the Autonomous sands of olive trees, recalling that Observatory for Human Rights Administration, certainly played a since the 2018 invasion, they had (SOHR), a car bomb attack in al- role there, and Damascus, which burned more than 14,000 hectares Qahtaniya (Hasakah) claimed by wants to recover its territories in of agricultural land... On the 9th, the jihadist organization injured a Northern Syria, could only the Turkish Ministry of Defence police officer and killed five peo- approve. It was also a question of announced that an anti-tank mis- ple, including three children (AFP). denouncing the American presence sile attack on one of its bases from On August 11th, ISIS promised to in the North of the country. But the the Tell Rifaat area had injured intensify its attacks in a video denunciation of the Autonomous two soldiers, and that Turkey had showing scenes of decapitation and Administration is indeed the only “retaliated”. For their part, the close-range shooting at prisoners point on which the summit partici- Afrin Liberation Forces (ALF) portrayed as kidnapped Kurdish pants were able to agree, and the claimed to have wounded or fighters... On August 13th, the YPG consensus hardly goes beyond that, killed several Turkish soldiers on announced the loss on August 5 of given the divergent interests on the the evening of the 8th at a base in a female fighter near Shadadi ground. On the 5th, Damascus, the Shera or Sherawa district, in (Hasakah), Vejîn Zagros, also accusing Ankara of not having response to Turkish fire that killed reporting having killed three respected its commitments, one of their own (Rûdaw, NRT). jihadists in a special operation near resumed the offensive on Idleb, not Following these clashes, the Hasakah. On the 18th, a car bomb without having taken advantage of Turkish army pounded the area attack killed a Kurdish police offi- the temporary cessation of hostili- with heavy weapons, wounding cer (Asayish) in Qamishlo and ties to reinforce its front line... On five members of the same family, injured two people, one seriously. the 8th, the Syrian army began to including a child (RojInfo). On the On the evening of the 26th, another advance on the ground. On the 10th, the ALF announced having car bomb exploded near a church 19th, it bombed the vanguard of a killed eight jihadists from Jabhat in Tabqa, just outside Raqqa, Turkish convoy of 28 vehicles that al-Shamiya in Al-Bab in a night killing one civilian and injuring arrived near the village of Khan attack. On 19 July, the Turkish nine others. The Asayish were able Shaykhun, south of Idleb (Hama Ministry of Defence reported that to prevent the explosion of another province). Damascus accused it had once again responded to fire vehicle. At the same time, the SDF Ankara of trying to provide in the Tell Rifaat area. announced the capture of one Bull Angl 411 June 2019.qxp_Bull angl n° 401 August 2018 29/11/2019 18:28 Page 3 n° 413 • August 2019 Information and liaison bulletin • 3 • jihadist and the death of another in Autonomous Administration, stat- Abdi said that the SDF had asked an operation on a village in Deir ed that the Administration was their American partners to act as Ezzor. ready to accept a five-kilometre mediators between them and the deep security zone, while refusing Turkish state “to solve the problem It should be noted that on 3rd a Turkish presence and requesting through dialogue and not war”, August, the SDF General surveillance by international and then participated indirectly in Command sent an order to all com- observers. According to Khalil, the discussions from the beginning. manders of its military units to these two points were rejected by When asked whether the SDF stop all recruitment of personnel Ankara, as was the direct participa- would accept Turkish aviation under the age of 18. This is the tion of the Kurds in the discus- reconnaissance flights over their application of the agreement sions.